Dr. Clarence Macartney, an early-20th-century minister and author, once related a story about a supposed meeting in hell.
Satan called his four leading demons together and commanded them to think up something that would trap more souls.
“I have it!” one demon said. “I’ll go to earth and tell people there is no God.”
“It will never work,” said Satan. “People can look around them and see that there is a God.”
“I’ll go and tell them there is no heaven!” suggested a second demon.
But Satan rejected that idea. “Everybody knows there is life after death, and they want to go to heaven.”
“Let’s tell them there is no hell!” said a third demon.
“No,” said the devil. “Conscience tells them their sins will be judged. We need a better plan than that.”
Quietly, the fourth demon spoke. “I think I’ve solved your problem,” he said. “I’ll go to earth and tell everybody there is no hurry.”
Today’s text sadly depicts the fourth demon’s influence on the Roman governor Felix.
The setting is Paul’s sermon to Governor Felix and his wife Drusilla following his arrest in Jerusalem for preaching Christ. Accused of sedition, Paul used the occasion not only to offer his defense, but also to tell his conversion story and preach the gospel.
Historical records describe Felix as immoral, corrupt, unscrupulous, and ruthless.
His wife, Drusilla, descended from a deviant and dysfunctional family. Her father was Herod Agrippa I, who executed James. Her great-uncle, Herod Antipas, had John the Baptist beheaded. And her great-grandfather was Herod the Great, who butchered the babies in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.
Historians say Drusilla was an exceptionally beautiful woman who, at sixteen, married Azizus, king of Emesa. However, Felix seduced her away and persuaded her to marry him, making Drusilla his third wife.
So, what do you say to a couple like this?
Paul preached exactly what they needed to hear.
Instead of softening the message before powerful people, Paul boldly addressed the very sins that defined their lives.
“Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time, I will call for you’” (Acts 24:25).
Consider this powerful three-point sermon.
#1 Paul confronted them with their sin problem.
He spoke of righteousness to a couple who were grossly unrighteous, ungodly, and immoral.
In a world that minimizes sin and treats it as a mistake, weakness, or mere error, people still need to face the truth about their condition before God. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
#2 Paul preached about self-control.
Neither Felix nor Drusilla knew much about self-control. They were ancient forerunners of today’s mantra: “If it feels good, do it.”
Ours is a culture that desires to cast caution to the wind, throw off restraint, and satisfy every fleshly desire.
But Christ calls us to deny ourselves and walk not after the lusts of the flesh, but in the Spirit who reins in our passions and helps control sinful desires (Gal. 5:22-23).
#3 Paul preached “the judgment to come.”
This was the clincher.
Felix and Drusilla stood condemned before the impending judgment of God. In fact, the Bible says that “Felix trembled” at Paul’s message.
Yet his fear did not result in repentance or conversion. Instead, Felix responded, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time, I will call for you.”
The convenient opportunity never came.
Felix and Drusilla walked away into eternity in their sinful state. The fourth demon won. They lost.
This soul-gripping narrative stands as a warning to all who know they should obey the gospel, yet continue to put it off. It is also a call to each of us not to wait for a “convenient time” to do good and obey what we know is right.
James warned, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (Jas. 4:17).
The tragedy of procrastination is that the “convenient time” often never comes.
Indeed, as J. Oswald Sanders reminds us, “Procrastination, the thief of time, is one of the devil’s most potent weapons for defrauding us of eternal heritage.”
Satan rarely needs to persuade people to reject God outright. More often, he simply whispers, “Not now.”
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
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